F1: Sexy Softer Faster & Ready To Get Wet!

Last week Pirelli slipped the silky black sheets off a new looking and sexy line up of rubber. Is rubber sexy now? Was it ever? If you love F1 and motor racing in general, the promise of better racing in 2012 should have you hot under the collar!

So what has Pirelli given us that have most enthusiast licking their top lip and biting their bottom? In order to provide more competitive performance between compounds and also to offer some additional grip to offset the new aero rules and restrictions, Pirelli has made their tyres more “square” in shape and also softer. In total, four dry weather compounds will be offered and the usual two wet weather options.

Pirelli’s Marco Tronchetti Provera: “After the positive experience of last year, the teams asked us to continue providing tires with the characteristics that contributed to spectacular races in 2011…This is what we have done, optimizing the compounds and profiles in order to guarantee even better and more stable performance, combined with the deliberate degradation that characterized the P Zero range from 2011.”

We can still expect the two to three pit stops per race as we saw last season, although it is believed that the new compounds will have a longer stint in peak performance range before it drops off. This is going to make pit wall strategy that much more intense and car design that little bit more delicate when trying to get the most out of the rubber while being gentle. Pirelli may be aiming to reduce the performance difference between compounds as well by trying to keep the lap times between six and eight tenths of a second.

Some additional information if you’re wondering what the heck “Cinturato” means. Cinta (Cintura) is Italian for belt. All this branding means is that these are belted (metal or otherwise) tyres. It might be a marketing tool to re-introduce the Cinturato name back into the sport where it competed from the early to mid-1950s.

Leave it up to Pirelli to help spice up the F1 show and bring sexy back!

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